There is little the Obama team have not tried or experimented with from Tumblr, to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blogs and Foursquare.

Then take a look back at what is happening in the UK with Labour and it seems that social and digital media campaigning appears to be going backwards. I’ve noticed a few things recently that have left me scratching my head. I saw another one yesterday and have rounded up a few things in this post.

Yesterday Labour has launched Thepriceoftoryfailure.com. It’s the party’s campaign to highlight the true scale of David Cameron and George Osborne’s economic failure.

The idea behind it is good, it is what the party should be doing, and follows the approach that Labour has been pursuing lately in that it is about people’s stories — about people telling how they are being hit by Conservative Party policies.

But the execution is pretty poor. It looks dated and rushed and because of that its impact is going to be far more restricted than it could have been.

It’s a shame as story led campaigning, about how politics affects lives, is very effective and it will become more important as the election machines gear up closer to 2015. However, it needs to be done right. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, but this Labour campaign could have been done better using a Tumblr blog, or any kind of blog, with much greater effect.

The campaign echoes what the Obama team did in the US 2012 election with its blog. People told stories about why they were donating. More than that people told detailed stories, stories that could be shared.

They did it again with #40dollars campaign, which was launched in response to Republican tax plans. President Barack Obama encouraged people to Tweet what $40 meant to them. He encourage people to tell their story.

Thepriceoftoryfailure.com is a series of pull out quotes, as you can see above, and it is begging for more detail. You can share the page, but not the stories themselves. That’s a shame as individuals connect with particular stories rather than pages with a series of quotes. Pensioners might want to hear about the struggles of people in a similar position as will students and mothers (Mumsnet is testament to that).

There are quite a few quotes so far, but less with more detail on a blog is better by far. Pictures too are needed. Things that make sharing easier and make it more social could have ultimately made the campaign more successful.

There’s no hashtag either on the web page supporters are being asked to share — although @UKLabour has been tweeting one as has @Ed_Miliband.

It is the same story in the email that Labour has sent out to members from Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. No hashtag and no follow Labour on Twitter (although there are links to share your story as well as share on Twitter and Facebook).

During its conference @UKLabour was entirely unresponsive with few @replies even around Ed Miliband’s key One Nation speech. It just spewed out tweets and is doing the same still. Other than retweeting Ed Miliband and a few others it was entirely unengaging. It is exactly what a Twitter presence should not be. No round-up of reaction. No Storify of the things that people were saying. Nothing.

I’m sure that has to count in part for Labour’s Twitter following being relatively small — just 69,837. It should be substantially bigger.

During its conference there must have been many tweeting at it, but @UKLabour was not tweeting anything back. It is a perfect picture of poor engagement and missing as a string of simple Twitter tricks to grow the Labour Party account.

To give them credit there is a little more engagement taking place on the @Conservatives account, but not much.

I noticed it with Tweets going out during the Corby and East Northamptonshire by-election, which was sparked by Twitter favourite Louise Mensch standing down.

“Watch Andy Sawford’s video from Corby &East Northamptonshire…”.

I know it is only one tweet, but it should have been tweeting @AndySawford’s Twitter handle to help him grow his following as part of the campaign.

Maybe they didn’t know what it was? No problem a quick look at @AndySawford’s campaign site will surely answer that question, right? Not so much then and not so much now.

Sawford’s website looks like it was built sometime five or six years ago. There is a complete lack of social media anywhere on the site save some buttons to let you share articles.

There is a page of YouTube videos and a small gallery, but it looks like a site created before social media came along with nothing at all on the home page or contact page. No follow Andy or support him on Facebook, there’s no blog or link to Pinterest.

You would think that he wasn’t on Twitter, but @AndySawfordMP is pretty active. Although Google Bing is the easiest way to find him.

The thing is you shouldn’t have to be searching on Google Bing to find the Twitter details of someone who was running and is now in Parliament in 2012.

We don’t really know what Tweets and followers count for when it comes to political campaigning, but we do know that you have to be there. At the moment Labour seems to have a bit of a social problem.

Labour on Google+

The problem doesn’t stop there. Labour made some noise last year when Ed Miliband joined Google+.

He was getting a lot of comments on his posts, but the enthusiasm for Google+ has waned somewhat. The Miliband team have not posted since July. It has just been abandoned. Again very disappointing. Labour itself doesn’t have a Google+ page.

Some really needs to get a grip of what the party is doing online as that doesn’t appear to be happening at the moment. It is messy and inconsistent at a time when it is in a strong position in the polls.

That lead needs to be reflected in its digital and social communications, but at the moment that’s just not happening.

In celebration of International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March, all this week we are asking senior industry figures who their most inspirational woman is. Alex Altman, managing director of Global Solutions at MEC, has chosen Anne Frank… Read more on Today’s inspirational woman: Anne Frank…

Valentine’s Day saw Swipe Right, a romantic hotel package, being offered by W Hotels to those interested in finding love or perhaps something a little more casual. This romantic hotel package builds off of the popularity of dating apps and appeals to those who are familiar with Tinder, Hinger, Grindr or 3nder. (Thanks to matchmaker […]

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of Yahoo being incorporated as a company. While it’s amazing to think how much the internet has evolved and changed in the last two decades it’s even more exciting to look forward. Read more on Smartphone dominance is here; marketers must shift their approach…

The advertising industry is rapidly evolving and it’s predicted that digital ad spend will reach £8 billion in 2015. However, the industry must confront an uncomfortable dirty secret – the epidemic that is digital ad fraud. Read more on 7 steps to combatting ad fraud…

Marty McFly, when faced with a tricky situation, often described it as “heavy”. When Marty finds himself in 1955 and Doc Emmett Brown tells him that the girl who will become his mother fancies him, Marty says “Whoa. This is heavy”. Doc takes him literally. “Why are things so heavy in the future?” he asks. […]

It’s official. The days of lingering suggestively over your lingerie at the laundrette are well and truly over. As is having to dash to the dry cleaner in an already overloaded day. Right now, it’s all about the locker, and 24/7 laundry services. Read more on The Daily Poke: Locker room groomer…

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorization.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of Haymarket Media's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions